Tag Matthew

The Brief Joy of Falling Back

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English writer Samuel Johnson wrote sometime in the 1700’s:

Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash

“How small of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.
Still to ourselves in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find.
With secret course, which no loud storms annoy,
Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.”

By setting the clock back this week we get a bit of joy from an extra hour of sleep, an idea originally suggested by Ben Franklin to preserve candles. But the benefit will last only a few days. Similarly, our kings and other rulers may insist they can offer us lasting rest and joy, but their impact on our lives is much smaller than they (and often we) imagine.  But…

Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.“

May Jesus refresh us for the week and work ahead.  Only He can provide the rest and joy we truly desire and need.

Christianity Isn’t Vegas

Todd R 1 Comment

The sign above is posted near the doors on the way out of the sanctuary in my church.  It is a reminder that sharing Christ with the world is not a task only for those who travel away from home to do it as a full-time job.  It is not a task only for those who go into a “hostile” culture.  It is a task for all who would follow Him, but it is not an easy task.

In Matthew 10:27, during a speech about enduring shame and persecution, Jesus tells His disciples: “What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”  For every disciple from then until eternity, this is an encouragement to public Christianity.  The world, including your neighborhood, workplace, and everywhere you go, is the mission field.

What has Jesus taught you “in the dark”?  In your private Bible study and prayer?  In books, blogs, podcasts, or anything else you do in private?

Proclaim on the housetops, though words and actions, how God has blessed you privately.  Don’t keep Him in the dark, but bring Him into the light.

There was an ad slogan that said “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” but Christianity is not Vegas.  What happens in church or in private, shouldn’t always stay in church or in private, and when you’re done reading this post, you just may be entering the mission field.

Provision for Eternity

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The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is full of drama, but more importantly, lessons.  After being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, Joseph rises to the position of overseeing all of Egypt, under only Pharaoh.  God blessed Joseph with the ability to see and interpret others’ dreams, and he was able to interpret one of Pharaoh’s dreams, which foretold seven years of bountiful harvest that would be followed by seven years of famine.

Based on this glimpse of the future in a dream, Joseph recommended the following plan, which they put into action: “Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.”[1]  This stored provision of food would help get Egypt through the years of famine.  But there’s also another lesson in Joseph’s plan.

Like Joseph, we have knowledge of the future that, in our case, we have learned through the Bible – that destruction is coming to this world.  Not just a regional famine, but worldwide, total judgement and destruction.  God’s word is like a dream that God has interpreted for His people through His Spirit so we may prepare for that future time.

How do we make provision for the world to come?

Photo by Diane Helentjaris on Unsplash

In Joseph’s case, he had Egypt use its current resources to invest in the future he knew was coming.  We can do the same, but how?  We can invest through our tithes and offerings.  By loving someone as Christ would.  By giving our time in service.  By supporting missionaries.  By being a strong witness in word and deed.  We do it when we do anything to advance God’s kingdom in this world, in His church and among our neighbors near and far.

These investments don’t save us – we are only justified by faith in what Christ has done for us – but that same Christ has told us to “lay up” these investments in Matthew 6:19-20, which says:

 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Many of us save and invest diligently for goals like retirement, college, vacation, a house or a car, and we should.  But we should also save and invest diligently in eternity, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[2]

How can we invest today?

[1] Genesis 41:34
[2] Matthew 6:21

God Overcomes the Green-Eyed Monster

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In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the evil Iago says the line: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on.”[1]

Jealousy can be a monster that takes control of us if we aren’t careful, so since at least 1603, people have been describing this powerful emotion as being taken over by the “green-eyed monster.”  What is this emotion?  Merriam-Webster says we are jealous when we feel “hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.”[2]  Even though jealousy is a hostile emotion, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,”[3] so He must be able to work through the green-eyed monster.

The first use of the word jealousy in the ESV Bible comes from Genesis 37:11, which begins with: “And [Joseph’s] brothers were jealous of him.”   This jealousy came from the favoritism Joseph’s father Jacob showed toward Joseph over his 11 brothers, but also the dreams Joseph shared where his family was bowing to him.  So, in Genesis 37:19-20, the brothers “said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer.  Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.’”  But Joseph was rescued and ended up in charge of Egypt’s food supply during a famine, enabling him, through God’s providence, to feed and save the rest of his family.  Therefore, what started as jealousy resulted in Israel’s deliverance from famine.  Joseph tells his brothers: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”  (Genesis 50:20)

Later, in the New Testament, jealousy was a cause of the persecution of the early Christian church.  Acts 13:44-45 says “The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.  But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him” and Acts 17:4-5 says “And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.  But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.” (Emphases added)

The apostle Paul was quite aware of this fierce jealousy, but instead of getting upset and annoyed about it, he knew that God would use it for the good of His people.  In fact, while Paul knew his ministry to the Gentiles provoked jealous feelings among Jews, he also hoped jealousy would bring some Jews to faith in Christ: “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.” (Romans 11:13-14)

But the biggest example of God working through jealousy and its relative, envy, can be found at the cross.  Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus’ day were jealous of the crowds that followed Him, of the authority He wielded, and of the miracles He performed.  Therefore, they plotted against Jesus to silence Him, and when they finally seized Him and turned Him over to Pilate, the Roman governor of the region, Matthew 27:18 records that Pilate “knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.”  What began as jealousy led to the cross and the only way our sins could be paid for was fulfilled!

Jealousy remains a harmful emotion, and God never creates evil in us, but jealous feelings not only resulted in the temporal salvation of Israel from famine and eternal salvation for some Jews in the New Testament, but jealousy also contributed to the crucifixion of Jesus, which made all salvation possible. When Paul wrote “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,” it included God overcoming “all things.”  Even jealousy, the green-eyed monster.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/top-10-phrases-from-shakespeare
[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jealous
[3] Romans 8:28

The God Who Puts Food on the Table

Todd R 4 Comments

There are many reasons to praise God, many ways that He blesses us.  One of these is given in Psalm 111:5, and it’s something we shouldn’t take for granted:

“He provides food for those who fear him;
            he remembers his covenant forever.”

While this may be a reference specifically to God providing manna and quail to the Israelites when they wandered in the wilderness, it applies more broadly to any food provided to anyone at any time.  Therefore, we should praise Him whenever we have something to eat.

But He doesn’t just deliver food from the grocery store to us.  He provides everything required for food to exist in the first place.  He designed everything involved in the growth of what we eat.  Sunlight, rain, soil conditions and nutrients, all have a role in the growth of fruits and vegetables.  All of these roles act the way they need to be by design.  Food doesn’t exist by chance and is not an accident of a blind nature.

Then add what’s needed to produce the meat we may eat.  First, those plants need to contain what animals need to eat and grow.  The animals need to be able to not only digest those things, but then to turn them into something edible for us.  Again, all ordained by God, the intelligent creator of our universe, who “provides food for those who fear him.”

Also, He is not only a God who designs and provides, but a God of mercy, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”[1]  He provides food even for those who do not praise Him and give thanks to Him, so they might come to know Him by His mercy towards them.

Those who fear God, praise and thank Him for the food He provides, the complexity of the world He designed, and His mercy toward all His people.  But also, to reflect His character, provide food for those in need, showing them the mercy and love of the God who puts food on our tables.

“He provides food for those who fear him;
            he remembers his covenant forever“

[1] Matthew 5:45b